ST. LAWRENCE CO., N. Y by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 1, 1877

ST. LAWRENCE CO., N. Y.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

I think that some facts with regard to this county will not only be interesting but profitable to the friends of the cause in New York. Much of this county is new, like northern Michigan, though some parts have been settled longer. It is a large county. The church at Bucks Bridge is one of the oldest churches in the cause. It has sent out enough Sabbath-keepers to the Western States to make a very large church. So the church at present is really small. One more small church was all there was in the county for many years. Some effort had been made in various places, but nothing of account was accomplished.

But some three or four years ago Bro. A. H. Hall, elder of the Bucks Bridge church, began to work in the Tract and Missionary cause. He went from house to house right among strangers, sold and gave away tracts, obtained subscribers for our papers, &c. He went again and again over the same ground, to nurse any interest that might be started. Soon many became deeply interested and anxious to hear preaching. But Bro. Hall was not a preacher. So Bro. C. O. Taylor came and helped him. A large church was soon raised up at Pierrepont. Then they went to Silver Hill, where they raised up another good church, though not so large. Bro. Taylor has also helped do a good work at Fine and in other places in the county and out of it.

Bro. Hall’s work also created an interest in Gouverneur and in the adjoining neighborhood. Bro. Wilbur went there with him, and a good little company came out. Bro. S. B. Whitney gained a few souls in laboring with the tent in the village, who joined with the others. In Hermon also the tracts have awakened an interest. Bro. Whitney went there with Bro. Hall, and a small company came out last season. Bro. H. H. Wilcox has raised up two companies in this county. He has done it mostly alone, and should be encouraged.

In all, there are now nine companies in this county; and many other openings are ready for the preacher. In every place where I have been, we have had crowded houses, and anxious hearers. While others have helped, as above stated, yet the untiring missionary work of Bro. Hall, before, during, and after the lectures, has contributed as much as all the rest to the success which has resulted. Much more has been accomplished in St. Lawrence County during the last three years, than in all the rest of the State.

Having been with Bro. Hall now for several months, it is no mystery to me how he succeeds. He is over sixty years of age, of very poor health, has but little education, no extra talent, and doesn’t claim to be a preacher. But he has faith in God and this message, a tender heart, and goes at the work with all his might. His satchel is always in his hand, full of books, tracts, and papers. As soon as he enters a house he begins his work. He talks with each member of the family personally, not in a general way, but right to the point.

He shows them his books, tells them which they need, urges them to buy, and, if possible, holds on till they take something. Then come the papers. They need them, they can’t do without them, they must have them. If they are Sabbath-keepers, they get no rest till they subscribe. Where he can’t sell, he lends books and then looks after them. He will visit with one family after meeting at night; then he is up early and off to breakfast with another family. So if he is in a church two days he will visit every family, and know all about them and where they need help. His preaching he does mostly in the prayer-meetings.

Now we have young preachers with good health, in the prime of life, with good education, and much more talented, able speakers, and yet they don’t accomplish one-tenth part what Bro. Hall does. A half dozen of them together do not bring as many into the truth as he does. Year after year they report either no church raised, or only a feeble one of eight or ten members.

Why is this so? The reason is no mystery. They do not take hold of this work with life, with energy, and a spirit of real earnest devotion. They do not get right down to the real hard work that insures success. They depend largely upon simply their sermons in the desk. They are too stiff and far from the people. They put on the minister altogether too much. They seem to think it beneath their dignity to peddle tracts from house to house. They visit in such an easy, aimless manner, that it moves no one. Where are their tears and groans and pleadings with God and the people? They are lacking.

Some of our preachers run from one school-house to another, from one village to another, without holding on anywhere long enough to secure success. As soon as the interest begins to drop, they stop—just when they ought to press the hardest. Hence I find innumerable places where a few discourses have been given, an interest started, and then left to die. Also most of the churches raised up are very small, numbering only eight to a dozen members. Go there, and you will find as many more who were once almost decided, when they were left to fall back. For instance, a preacher reports that ten have embraced the Sabbath, many are favorable, and that the attendance was good to the last, but that he now leaves for another field. In the name of the Lord, what did he leave for then? That is just the time he ought not to leave. Why don’t he hold on till his audience is either converted, or till they will not hear further? I have often preached to an audience till every one who would come any longer had embraced the truth. Those who come in last are frequently the best.

When the work is taken hold of in this State with the same energy and hold-on spirit that it is in other States, I confidently believe we shall see just as large results. What Bro. Hall has done proves this. What has been accomplished at Rome proves it.

We stayed eight weeks at Rome. Had we left even then, there would not have been half what there is there now, and they would have been weak and but half in the truth. Think of a minister’s leaving a place when ten or a dozen have simply begun to keep the Sabbath. They do not pray, have not been baptized, know nothing of the health reform, pay no S. B., &c. Another month’s work would set them right on these things, and add as many more to their number. Brethren in New York, let us face about, and go at the work like men in dead earnest. D. M. Canright.